Interiors: adding character to a former silk factory

The interior designer Miv Watts describes herself as “a nomad at heart”. With an Australian mother and a Welsh father, Watts lived in Sydney until she was seven and then grew up between Anglesey and Kent, returning to Australia for 10 years in the 1980s and working as a costume designer in the booming Australian film industry. “I think my film industry training gave me an insight into those who do and those who talk of doing,” she says. “I love a can-do attitude. 'No’ is not a word I understand, and designing something beautiful from nothing gives me an enormous pleasure.”

No doubt she also finds seeing her daughter, the actor Naomi Watts, stepping into character on the big screen greatly pleasurable. Interpreting personalities is one of the elder Watts’s talents, too – albeit weaving her clients’ characters into the décor of their homes.

The paintings by the mirror are by Rika Deryckere, a local artist.Credit:
Tim Beddow

“Reflecting a person’s history along with a nod towards the past of the building creates a unique and individual space,” Watts says. “I think a home is about the layers and experiences of one’s life. It’s not about showing off – that’s just a house.”

Bengal rallis, from India, are used for picnics, dog comfort or for the beach.Credit:
Tim Beddow

Returning to England in the early 1990s, Watts set up shop in Norfolk, building up a client base that was attracted to her understated interior design approach. “But I am a bit of a square peg and Norfolk became ever more of a round hole for me,” she says of her decision to leave after 15 years. Seeking a new adventure, Watts headed to southern France and discovered the Cévennes, a region with untamed landscapes, isolated villages, medieval castles and a scant population.

The pink-painted alcove above the stairwell was once used for silk worms. Credit:
Tim Beddow

Watts bought her village home from an English woman “who had done a wonderful job restoring it after squatters had really let it go”. The village was once devoted to the production of silk and leather, and many of the old houses, like this one, were silk factories. “A lot goes on behind closed doors in this village,” Watts says with a laugh. “Some of the factories have been turned into riad-style homes with secret courtyards and high walls.”

In the bathroom, which has a wet-room off it. Credit:
Tim Beddow

The anonymous doorway to her home belies a hidden gem beyond – one of the first things that strikes you on entering is the glass dome at the top of the stairwell. “The house is full of light, which I find more and more important with time,” Watts says. “Without light I am without life.”

The terrace.Credit:
Tim Beddow

Though the structural work had all been attended to, Watts installed the polished-concrete kitchen and incorporated a new wet-room upstairs. On the ground floor, Watts has made one of the rooms into a snug library, while the high-ceilinged salon sits at the back of the house. “It’s a fabulous room,” Watts says. “Some people think it’s grand yet cosy, for others it’s just comfortable and spacious.”

An old range makes a handy backdrop for found objects.Credit:
Tim Beddow

At the far end an open door leads into the kitchen, with steps going down to an open terrace and an alternative dining area in a former storage room. Off the other side of the salon is a small room with an old range that is now used as a backdrop for Watt’s objets trouvés and pictures.

Cane chairs from India in the summer dining room.Credit:
Tim Beddow

It is a very personal, welcoming home with pops of colour and flashes of the unusual added to the pot. “I like to mix periods and textures, form and flow, to create poetry through a space,” Watts says. Her look is certainly organic and seemingly underdesigned; rather, it appears to have evolved over a lifetime.

In the spare bedroom the metal bed was another local market find.Credit:
Tim Beddow

As well as objects, Watts collects visitors. “The house is always full of whippets, poets, painters and general misfits,” she says. “This village has a cross-section of French, European and Moroccans and bursts with creativity. Most importantly, everyone has the time of day and pops in to say hello.” Has the nomad finally put down roots? One cannot be certain of that.